Invictus
by Katarina99
Summary: Harry Potter has spent seven of his eight years in mind numbing boredom, so when a strange man appears out of no where, half blinds him with a tube that emits blue light and starts babbling about how he shouldn't exist, what else could Harry do? Can the universe survive The-Boy-Who-Lived and The Oncoming Storm working as a team?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This idea just kept popping into my head, so...here it is! enjoy!**

"BOY!"

Harry winced as his uncle's voice cut through his ears, honestly, you'd think that after seven years the man might have gotten the clue that Harry lived about ten feet from the kitchen and there was really no need to scream whenever he wanted him. Shrugging it off as just another one of his uncle's strange points such as being afraid of street magicians ("Stay away from my family you freak!"), the panic when a family had come to the door on Halloween dressed as matching Merlins, including an adorable little baby with a beard longer than it's body ("Get out! Get out and don't ever contact us again!"), and his inability to recognize Harry's existence when they were in a public place such as the mall ("No, not ours, he's been following us around the entire day, not quite sure where he came from."). So he simply exited the cupboard and walked into the kitchen to see what his uncle needed now.

"Yes Uncle Vernon?"

The man jumped in surprise to see him standing there and glowered, "Your aunt needs you to do the shopping for her, she's too busy planning Dudley's birthday and I don't have the time to drive you to the market so you'll have to walk. Here's the list."

Harry barely managed to stop himself from groaning, the list was extensive and would be incredibly difficult to carry home on his own especially given the bruises on his hands from where he had landed on the school roof yesterday. Although his uncle hadn't seem to have bought his story about how the wind had picked him up and dropped him up there Harry thought it was a perfectly reasonable solution. Of course there was the small problem that Dudley hadn't been lifted up as well but that could be chalked up to the fact that Dudley was quite a bit heavier than Harry and the wind simply couldn't lift him.

"Is that going to be a problem boy?" Uncle Vernon growled with a viscous grin on his face, Harry shook his head quickly; he had a bad habit of getting lost in his thoughts at the most inconvenient of times, usually when he was talking to his uncle or right in the middle of being chased by Dudley's gang. He was relatively sure that it came from being bored- Dudley's gang always did the same thing and Uncle Vernon's anger came in the same stages (annoyed, confused, rage, face color, more rage, calm, drinking). If there was just something _interesting _that happened he was sure that his mind wouldn't keep wandering. Unfortunately, interesting things only happened around him when his surroundings changed a bit. Horrid sweater- wow, is that thing shrinking? Piers Polkiss found pepper spray in his mothers bag? Look I'm on the roof! Mrs. O'Malley talking about his parents? Her wig really did look nicer in that vibrant electric blue.

"BOY!"

Harry shook his head again, "Sorry Uncle Vernon. I'll just get going then?"

The large man just heaved a long suffering sigh, "There's twenty five pounds on the counter, I want all of it accounted for when you get back."

Harry nodded and raced out the door, shoving the money in his pocket as he went, Uncle Vernon had been surprisingly patient this time but that newly found virtue probably wouldn't last if Harry spaced out yet again.

* * *

An hour later Harry was walking very slowly back to the Dursley's house. He stopped for a moment and thought absently that perhaps he should call it his house as well, he did live there after all.

"Hello."

Of course, the Dursleys did like to pretend that he didn't live there, thus the cupboard and the lack of pictures.

"Hello?"

But on the other hand, he had lived there for most of his eight years of life so by right, it was his house too.

Suddenly there was a bright blue light shining in his eyes and he reeled back in shock.

"Hey!"

A strange man in a pin striped suit grinned back at him, "Sorry bout that, you weren't answering, had to make sure you weren't plastic, nasty stuff that living plastic, had to deal with it a few years back. Would you believe-"

"Wait living plastic?" Harry asked, confused beyond belief by the strange man who was now holding the metal tube that had blinded him with the blue light up to his eyes and examining it.

"That's not supposed to happen." The man muttered, pulling out a pair of glasses from his pocket and slipping them on, looking between Harry and the tube in bemusement.

"Excuse me, but um, what's not supposed to happen?"

"You shouldn't have this many lleps particles around you, it's almost like...but that's impossible."

The man had now started lifting Harry's hair up, pushing him at arm's length away from him, measuring his height and for some strange reason pointing the tube thing at his chest.

"What's your name?" The strange man asked, focusing the tube on Harry's eyes again but this time without the light being quite as blinding as before.

"Harry Potter, but what-" The man had started walking briskly away, motioning for Harry to follow him.

"How old are you Harry?" He was now having to jog to keep up with the taller man.

"Eight, who are you?" Harry finally managed to get out.

The man reached down and took his hand, continuing at a slower pace, "I'm the Doctor. And you, Harry Potter, should not exist."


	2. Chapter 2

"I shouldn't...exist?"

"Nope. You existing should literally be tearing the fabric of time as we speak. Actually, probably should have torn it several minutes ago."

"Oh...sorry?" Usually his curious nature would have required him to ask multiple questions about his existing shredding the universe but he was still trying to get used to holding the Doctor's hand. He had seen other children hold hands with their parents and Dudley's hand was almost constantly clutched tightly by Aunt Petunia's freakishly bony one but he had never actually experienced it himself. Honestly, he found that he was quite alright with it; it was almost...comforting. An anchoring feeling to the strange thoughts whirling through his brain.

"Probably not your fault Harry, don't worry about it. Weeeell, it might be your fault in the future so don't worry about it yet. It's confusing. Now! I need to talk to your parents."

"They're dead." He had long ago stopped being bothered by this, he had never known them after all. If they were insulted he usually got angry but other than that he was rather neutral about his unknown parents.

"Ah. Well that puts a damper on things. There's always something that goes wrong when things like this happen."

"Does this happen a lot then?" If it did Harry was sticking around this Doctor character, things hadn't been this interesting since, well, ever.

"More often than you would think. So! Where're you staying? Who's looking out for you? And why in the world are you carrying all those bags? Here, give me those." The Doctor reached down and snagged half the bags away from Harry while still holding tight to the boy's other hand as if worried he was going to disappear.

"I stay at Number 4, over there, with my aunt and uncle, they didn't have time to go to the store cause it's my cousin's birthday tomorrow and they had stuff to do." Harry noted with a surprised satisfaction that he hadn't dozed off for even an instant since the Doctor had started talking to him.

"And they sent you all by your lonesome?" The Doctor asked, peering at him with unreadable eyes.

"Yeah, it's not too bad though, I'm used to being alone, the other kids at my school don't like me too much cause Dudley beats them up if they're too friendly to me." Harry said with a shrug, looking down the street cautiously, if Uncle Vernon saw him talking to a strange man and letting the man carry the rather expensive groceries for him he would go spare.

"A bully, eh? I hate bullies, you could call me a proffesional bully fighter, no don't call me that- actually...that's not too bad." The man mused, looking up with a far off expression that Harry knew well.

"Doctor? That's my aunt and uncle's house right there."

The tall man shook himself, "So it is. Well, lead on Harry Potter."

Harry shot him a look at the use of both his names but sighed and went up to the door, closely followed by his new friend.

"Uncle Vernon? Aunt Petunia?" He called, quickly taking off his shoes and putting on the pair of ratty old house slippers his aunt had left out for him. They dwarfed his feet by at least several sizes and had several holes in the toe area but they served well when Aunt Petunia was doing a thorough cleaning and didn't want his dirty footprints all over the place.

"Leave those bags on the counter and get in here boy!" His uncle bellowed from the sitting room.

Both Harry and the Doctor winced in unison at the unreasonably loud noise.

"Does he know that-"

"The hall is about ten feet from the sitting room? Dunno, you kind of stop questioning it after a while." Harry said with a shrug, holding out a hand for the groceries so he could put them down and face Uncle Vernon's inevitable rage.

"Nah, I got 'em. Sitting room's that way? I'll meet you in there once I've put these down." The Doctor said, smoothly holding the bags out of Harry's reach. He had been around long enough to notice when someone (especially a child) was in pain and he certainly wasn't going to allow Harry to keep on carrying the heavy groceries when he had two perfectly good arms and could do it himself.

"I don't have all day boy!" Came another roar and Harry winced again, edging toward the door.

"I'll see you in a minute then?" He asked, suddenly unwilling to leave the Doctor's side. His uncle was in a bad mood, he could already tell and bad moods didn't generally bode well for Harry.

"Course! Off you go, the rhino's waiting."

Harry smiled a bit, which the Doctor counted as a score for his side and slowly entered the sitting room, casting one more forlorn look back at the Doctor.

The Timelord frowned uneasily and ran a hand through his hair, something was very not right in this home (beyond the paradox, lleps particle, lost in thought boy) and he intended to figure out exactly what it was.

* * *

"What took you so long?" Uncle Vernon growled and Harry realized with a sinking feeling that the man was drunk yet again.

"I-I'm sorry Uncle Vernon, there was a man and he helped me carry the groceries home and he-"

"HE WHAT?" Vernon bellowed, climbing unsteadily to his feet, "What have we told you about strangers boy?"

"Not to tell them about the cupboard?" Harry asked questioningly, hoping that was the correct answer.

Apparently it wasn't as the large man went from a firetruck red to a deathly white in two seconds flat then slowly returned to his normal coloring, looking more dangerous than Harry had ever seen him look.

"Did you tell him then? I warned you about talking to strangers about that boy, one rule. I give you one rule in exchange for food and shelter and you can't even follow that. Just like your useless parents. Why I didn't take Marge's advice the second you were brought into this home I'll never-"

The Doctor picked this moment to walk briskly into the room and marched right up to the obviously enraged man, holding out a hand to shake, "Ah, Mr. Potter I presume?"

Harry, still pale and shaking a bit adopted a look of horror and quickly shook his head no but the damage was done.

"Excuse me?" Vernon ground out, staring at the Doctor as if he were the devil incarnate.

"Yeah, well I thought since Harry here was Potter and you're his uncle-"

"THAT THING IS NO RELATION OF MINE!"

Ah. It seemed Uncle Vernon had finally hit his breaking point. Vaguely he felt the Doctor's hand close around his but he was mainly concentrating on his uncle's angry face and the onslaught of panic that was starting to set in.

* * *

The Doctor was in shock. He had been expecting many things in this house, an absentee aunt and a struggling uncle, Harry living on his own and pretending to live with his aunt and uncle to keep from being taken away, a dead uncle and a delusional aunt. So many scenarios but the one that he hadn't, _couldn't _allow himself to think about was of course the one that was happening. Harry was being abused. There was no doubt in his mind, the uncle's drunkenness, the screamed denouncement, and the boy's shaking were the final nails in the coffin.

To put it simply, the Doctor was angry. To make it a little more complicated the Doctor was beyond the point of forgiveness or mercy. This boy, this impossible, miracle child was being hurt by his own flesh and blood who had no idea exactly how extraordinary he was, that he was the last child of a dying species.

"If that's how you feel about him I'll be taking Harry away now." The Doctor said quietly, using all of his strength not to exact revenge on the man (that could be done later once Harry was calm and safe in the TARDIS).

"Take him! I've been trying to get rid of the brat for years but Petunia seems to think that his kind will be angry with us if we chuck him out! Good riddance to bad rubbish I say!" The man crowed, leering at his still terrified nephew who was now half hidden behind the Doctor.

"Well she was right, we're angry, furious actually, every one of us." The Doctor growled, deciding that it wasn't necessary to mention that there were only two of them left in the universe.

"So you're one of those _wizard _freaks, are you?" Vernon ground out, glaring at the slightly taller man.

Now the Doctor was just confused, the Timelords had been described as many things (when you had time travel and extended life spans you tend to pick up your fair share of nicknames) but he hadn't ever heard them described as wizards before. However, he had branded the fat man as insane (in a bad way) the moment he walked in the door, so he decided to just go with it. "Yes, the wizards. We're all very upset, great outrage among the Guild. Merlin's about ready to rip his beard out and we wouldn't want that, so Harry and I will just be leaving. Good bye Mr...Well I don't suppose that really matters does it? Do have anything you want to get before we leave Harry?" He asked, squeezing the boy's hand a bit in reassurance.

Harry gave a quick nod, keeping his eyes on his uncle all the while and quietly edged out the door, tugging the Doctor along with him.

"It's not a lot, just my crayons and my blanket, but I've always had Blanket, I don't want to leave him." Harry muttered, looking a bit ashamed that at eight years old he still slept with his Blanket.

"Not to worry, I've still got my stuffed Menoptra from when I was your age and I wouldn't want to leave him either, up the stairs then?" The Doctor got about two stairs up before he felt his hand snag and realized that Harry was still standing at the bottom of the stairs staring up at him. "All the rooms are upstairs aren't they? Where's yours?"

"I'm not supposed to tell strangers." Harry said hesitantly, scuffing his foot on the floor a bit and peering up at the Doctor as if analyzing him.

"Well I'm not a stranger! I'm the Doctor and you're going to be stuck with me for quite a while."

Harry's face cleared, "Alright, I sleep over here."

The boy let go of the Doctor's hand and wandered over to a cupboard door, opened it, and disappeared inside. The Doctor followed closely behind, his hearts sinking as he realized exactly what Harry was doing.

He opened the door a little wider and reached for the light bulb string. Light flooded into the cupboard, illuminating Harry who was laying half on a small mattress and rummaging under his pillow for more of the small but brightly colored crayons, in his other hand he was clutching a raggedy blanket.

"You sleep in the cupboard Harry?" The Doctor managed to choke out, trying to sound as normal as was possible given the circumstances.

Harry looked up and shrugged, "It's just where I sleep, I'm doing other stuff most of the day so it doesn't really matter. And it's warmer than the rest of the house in the winter cause it's right next to the vent." With that he went back to looking for his crayons.

"Right, cupboard under the stairs. Alright." The Doctor muttered, running a hand through his hair and glancing behind him, half hoping to see Harry's uncle so he could try out some of the more interesting functions of the sonic screw driver.

"Got all of them." Harry said with a triumphant grin, reaching for the Doctor's hand again, "Where are we going?"

As they ventured out of the house Harry's steps lightened and he began glancing around with the wicked, but detached intelligence that had drawn the Doctor to the boy in the first place. The Doctor grinned, good mood slowly returning as they left Privet Drive behind them, "Harry Potter, how would you like to see the stars?"


	3. Chapter 3

"So it's like those boxes that magicians use to make people disappear?"

The Doctor ran a hand through his hair in exasperation, Harry had (a very understandable) reluctance to enter into another small space having just escaped the confines of his cupboard and was refusing to enter the TARDIS.

"No, it's bigger on the inside, as in it's a separate dimension with miles of space and not in any way a police box."

Harry looked at him with the flat, disbelieving look that was uncannily familiar before simply pointing at the label, "It says police box."

"No! Don't always believe what you read! That's rule number one if you're going to be traveling with me!"

"I thought rule number one was don't wander off."

"Well, that one is very important-"

"And also don't lie to you."

"Yes, very vital rules that must be followed-"

"Or no guns."

"That one, that one is definitely rule number one."

"So why are there so many?" Harry asked, looking equal parts victorious and curious.

"Because there are many important rules, and maybe I'm using the Covulkian number system, ever think of that?"

"No. We didn't learn about Covulkians in school."

"Oh, brilliant planet, the people developed a type of psychic connection soon after they began working on the concept of numbers and now they have one number that they psychically define while using."

Harry thought about that for a moment, eyes sparkling madly, "Then what definition of the number one were you using."

The Doctor stared at the boy in shock for a moment before shaking himself, "No, no, that isn't the point! Just go into the TARDIS and if it's just a box you can come out and say I told you so. Go on then!"

Harry sighed, not pleased with this turn of events at all and walked into the box.

And promptly walked backwards out of it, stared at the Doctor for a moment and walked back in. Several seconds later he walked back out, "Separate dimension you said?"

He nodded with a large grin, Harry took a large breath in then let it out, nodding his head slightly, "Right, separate dimension. So when you move the TARDIS does the whole dimension move or just the door?"

The most intelligible response the Timelord could come up with was, "What?"

Harry calmly repeated the question while the Doctor continued staring, "No one's ever asked me that before, you wouldn't really understand the method behind it, it's all rather-"

Harry cut over him, eyes shining again with that fierce intelligence that was becoming less and less detached by the second, "Try me."

The Doctor grinned and slowly nodded in agreement, "Alright. Well you see while a TARDIS grows there are several factors that go into..."

The two unlikely companions walked into the TARDIS shutting the door behind them, within a few moments there was no trace of a deep blue box on the streets of Little Whinging, nor would there be again for many years. Harry Potter had finally left the small community of his youth and with it any semblance of normalcy.

* * *

"There we are, just jump up on the seat right there Harry." The Doctor instructed, rummaging through some cabinets in the med bay.

Harry shrugged and after several attempts stared at the TARDIS walls in something close to annoyance and perhaps a little closer to pleading, moments later the table shrunk down to a manageable level for an eight year old while Harry clambered on then back to it's normal size as soon as it was situated. Harry smiled gratefully and ran his hand along the wall, giving a muffled laugh as it grew warm beneath his hand and vibrated slightly, almost as if purring.

The Doctor finally seemed to find what he was looking for and walked quickly back to the boy, noting the way he stiffened when he saw the object in his hand, "Not to worry, this doesn't even come in contact with your skin, I just run it over you and it tells me exactly what species, sub-species, genetic makeup and relative time period you are."

Harry looked at the older man as if he was crazy, "Species human, why does my genetic makeup matter, time period 1988. Why do you even need that thing?"

The Doctor hit it a few times until a blue light shone out of it and he began running it slowly down the length of Harry's body from his head to his toes, "Because no human child would be able to even begin to understand the workings of the TARDIS, you took to it like something that should be impossible."

"Something that should be ripping the fabric of the universe." Harry remembered, blinking as the light blinded him slightly before passing his eyes.

"Exactly, so once this contraption gets fired up...ah! There we go and-" He abruptly cut off staring at the device completely blankly.

"Doctor?" Harry asked quietly, seeming a little worried. The man shook himself and attempted a bit of a smile at Harry.

"Well Harry Potter, you are completely human and completely not."

"Ah. Right." They sat in silence for a moment, "Sorry, what?"

"You see, my species has a way of disguising themselves-"

"Wait, your species?"

They stared at each other for a moment, "I didn't explain that yet?"

"No..."

"Ah, sorry. Hello, I'm the Doctor, I'm a Timelord, two hearts, very clever, time travel, now endangered."

"Um, hi?"

"Right, my species has a way of disguising themselves, hiding their nature inside of a watch-"

"A watch."

"Yes, a watch, is there a problem with that?"

"Well, it's just that you're kind of obsesses with time. Timelord, time travel, hide in a timepiece."

"I'll have you know that time is a very beautiful thing, you would get it if you could see what I can. Anyway, we have a way of hiding our nature in a watch, at first I assumed that was what you were except there's something not right about it. For one you don't have a watch do you?"

"No, just Blankie."

"Yes, exactly, and while I'm sure that Blankie is a quite effective way to keep warm it is not a timekeeping device of any sort. But then I hit on it, my machine here is showing me that you're 100% human and 100% Gallifreyan. And what else is curious is that your DNA seems to be one-sided."

Harry was quickly getting caught up in the doctor's excitement, "So what does that mean?"

"You literally have no paternal DNA, it's like you were created entirely from your mother which can only mean one thing-"

"That the machine's wrong?" Harry asked, quirking an eyebrow in a very familiar look of challenge.

"No, no it means that you were created through a progenation machine, basically it takes the DNA of one person and creates a direct descendant of the donor, only it usually creates an adult...Although I suppose if someone very clever tampered with it a bit... And if that someone was a Timelady in human form-"

"Doctor?"

He shook himself, "Yes?"

"Well the thing is, you said you had two hearts?"

"Yes."

"I don't. Have two hearts I mean, well the last time I checked any way."

"Exactly! Because your mother must have been in human form, you would have one heart until you regenerated, although I imagine it would have taken a little more than a normal regeneration to remind your body what it really is. Normal Gallifreyan biology allows the second heart to grow after the first regeneration, but I imagine it would take at least two to kick start your secondary heart into existence."

"So I'm...Gallifreyan?"

"Looks like it. The last child of Gallifrey. Congratulations Harry Potter, you're currently the most important eight year old in existence."

Suddenly the force of this seemed to hit the Doctor like a ton of bricks and he grabbed Harry into his arms swinging him in around with a joyous shout, much to Harry's shock, "You, Harry Potter, are brilliant! Multo bene!"

Harry just laughed and clung on tightly to the Doctor's neck, both of them oblivious to the TARDIS's humming of approval as she drifted slowly and steadily through the Time Vortex.


	4. Chapter 4

"No no no! The other violet lever!"

"There isn't another violet lever, there's just the violet one and the mauve one!"

"Are you mad?! That's not mauve that's...mauve. Right. Well anyway, pull that one!"

"Are you sure you know how to fly this thing?"

"Of course I'm sure, I told you I know how to fly it didn't I?"

"Well you're obviously having some problems with every single lever, switch, button and radio."

Harry and the Doctor stared each other down for several moments, this often happened when they had disagreeing opinions, it had become sort of a game. Whoever could win the telepathic battle of wills had to cave and justify themselves before letting the other take the reigns.

Harry held on admirably well for ten seconds before looking away with a muffled curse.

"Oi! None of that, I'm the designated parent figure on this-"

"You? You're the designated parent figure? Have you looked in a mirror recently?"

"I'm the only one who's gone through full Timelord training, making me the adult. And the adult wants to know whether you can fly this thing or not."

Harry grinned infuriatingly, something that the Doctor was grudgingly proud of, that was _his _infuriating grin Harry was using.

"Well once Dudley was watching a movie and the main character was a fighter jet pilot..."

"Are you mad?! A movie? You've been trying to fly this thing based on a _movie_?!"

"You fly the TARDIS without a manual!"

"I have almost seven hundred years of experience with my TARDIS and that manual was wrong!"

"Was it still wrong when we almost _blew up Mars_?!"

"I'll have you know-"

There was a quiet cough behind them and they both spun around in surprise. The young man they had commandeered the plane from was staring wide eyed and terrified at them. "Would you, um, be alright with it if I took the pilots seat? I don't want to die."

The Doctor and Harry looked at each other and back at the pilot, "Yeah, oh yeah, by all means, go ahead."

He breathed a sigh of relief and after a bit of jockeying and a few major heart attacks as the plane spiraled towards the ground before being course corrected by someone's shin or forehead, the pilot got back into his seat.

"Right, what's your name?"

"Um, Jeff?"

"Well Um Jeff, we need you to get us to Cardiff within the next twenty minutes, can you do that for us?"

"What are you going to do to Cardiff?" Jeff asked in horror, suddenly feeling very bad indeed about reclaiming the pilot's seat.

"What? Oh no, no, no Jeff, we just needed quick transport, a friend of ours ran off, we were stuck on a military base due to some very unfortunate circumstances-"

"He almost killed a general with a blue telephone box from the 1960's."

"I told him it was an accident!"

Jeff at this point decided not to bother the two very strange people and landed them in Cardiff, taking off again as soon as he could. It had been the strangest twenty minutes of his life and he was not anxious to repeat it.

* * *

"What I don't understand is how the TARDIS de-materialized by herself." Harry grumbled as they hiked through Cardiff towards the Roald Dahl Plass where the Doctor was sure the TARDIS would be.

"Well, she needed fuel, she was upset at me, decided we would be fine on our own and took off to refuel."

"In Cardiff."

"What is everyone's problem with Cardiff? Everytime we get anywhere near here it's 'Cardiff? Why're we in Cardiff? I want a planet Doctor, give me a planet Doctor' I find Cardiff to be a perfectly nice city!"

Harry shot him a skeptical look before he caved, "Well sure there's other places I'd rather go, but Cardiff is nice. Good memories here."

He suddenly got a far off look in his eyes that Harry had started to associate with the Doctor thinking about "them." Harry quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him into a run, "C'mon, I think I see the TARDIS!"

The Doctor laughed a bit at his small charge and allowed himself to be pulled along, never noticing the small camera following them across the square.

* * *

**AN: Yes it's very short but it felt a bit necessary, I'll have another chapter out this weekend though, so don't worry about that :) Also, the Doctor's a little out of character in this chapter, I don't know why but no matter what I did I kept writing him like this...don't worry about that either, I'll have him back in character in the next chapter.**

**-Kat**


	5. Chapter 5

Harry had draped himself across the Captain's chair, mindlessly staring at the ceiling and twitching his foot back and forth, tapping out a steady rhythm with his heel. They had been there for only a few minutes and he was already bored.

There was always something to do with the Doctor, something to learn, to see, to fix, except right now, there wasn't. The TARDIS was refueling and they could only sit there and wait for her to finish.

The Doctor didn't seem to mind much, he was never still, moving from one side of the Control Panel to another, pausing only occasionally to check the fuel levels with his sonic screwdriver before moving on, not noticing his small charge's extreme boredom. To be fair, he had no reason to think that Harry could be bored after only a few moments of sitting down but the fact was that Harry couldn't stand sitting still anymore, he had done more than enough of that at the Dursley's and had no desire to go back to it.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Another fuel level check.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Scaling a ladder and examining the wires hanging from the ceiling.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Cocking his head in confusion and staring at the door.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Gradual expression of realization.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Flying leap off of the ladder and a madcap dash towards the control panel. Harry sat straight up in the chair, it looked like things were about to get interesting.

"Harry, which button does invisibility?"

"How'm I supposed to know, you said that invisibility was a useless function."

"Ah! What was I thinking, invisible is brilliant, wonderful, amazing, I love invisible...you locked the door after you right?"

They stared at each other for a moment.

"Nobody ever tries to open it though, they just shoot at it."

The Doctor groaned, "Not him." He took one, completely useless step towards the door before it swung violently open and a tall, brown haired man breathing hard with a large bag on his back leaped in and skidded to a stop with a look of surprise.

"You're...still...here." He gasped out, flailing his arm out and shutting the door behind him without turning around.

"Yep." The Doctor said calmly, popping the p with a thoroughly annoyed look on his face.

"I thought...you'd...leave me...again." He had dropped the pack on the ground now.

"Tried. Not as quick as I used to be apparently."

The man snorted and leaned against the wall, "You'll never lose a step Doc."

Harry grinned a bit at the look on the Doctor's face, "I told you not to call me that."

"I told you to keep her safe."

The dark look in the Doctor's eyes suddenly disappeared, "What, no, no she's fine-"

"You're kidding!"

"Oh yeah, living in an alternate universe with her mum and Mickey, safe and sound."

The man stared at the Doctor in shock for a moment before letting out a whoop and sprinting towards the control panel, jumping cables with a practiced ease and throwing his arms around the Doctor without slowing his stride for a moment, knocking them both backwards into the control panel, laughing joyfully, no trace of the tension of the last few minutes.

They finally pulled apart, grinning, the Doctor looking happier than Harry had ever seen him.

"So, you finally settled down eh?" The man asked, one arm slinging around the Doctor's shoulders and looking at Harry with an approving glance and giving the Doctor a proud slap on the back. "I bet he takes after his mom, looks nothing like you."

"What? Oh, no, no, Jack, this is Harry, we've been traveling together, he's um-"

"You've been traveling with an eight year old?

"Bit of a long story..."

"No it's not." Harry said complacently, flopping back into the captain's chair, "I lived with the Dursleys and it was awful then you picked me up and it turns out I'm not human then I adopted you."

Both men stared at him for a moment, "You didn't adopt me, I adopted you, I am the parent figure in this TARDIS-"

"That's still up for debate."

"It is not! I am the fully grown Timelord, you're just a...a...a Timetot!"

"You take that back! I am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not! At least I know how to turn the TARDIS invisible!"

"You said you didn't know how to do that!"

"Invisible is boring, this is more fun!"

The man stared between them, laughing hysterically, "Jeeze Doc, you sure he's not yours? And what'd you mean Timetot?"

"Seventy eight percent sure. And that's an even longer story, later maybe."

There was a beat of silence. "So who are you?" Harry asked, finally broaching the subject of the strange man in their home who (by the size of his bag) looked like he would be staying a while.

"Oh, sorry, Captain Jack Harkness, nice to meet you." He reached out his free hand for a shake but instead got an armful of enthusiastic eight year old.

"So you're my Uncle Jack!"

"What?" The Doctor and Jack asked at the same time, staring down at him like he had some sort of contagious disease.

"No, no, no Harry, Jack won't be sticking around-"

"Uncle Jack?"

"In fact he'll be leaving any minute now-"

"Uncle Jack?"

"How did you even find out about him?"

"Seriously kid, why Uncle Jack?"

Harry shrugged, still clinging onto him, "I got the TARDIS to pull up all the Doctor's journals-"

"Oi! That is very rude!"

"And you're all over the place, I have enough aunts to last me a lifetime-"

Jack sniggered and the Doctor shot him a dirty look, Harry continued, not noticing a thing, "Brigadier's all old so it's weird calling him uncle, and everyone else is well..."

The Doctor sighed, "Either dead or living out their lives with no idea that I exist."

Harry nodded, "So you're Uncle Jack and you're going to travel with us-"

"Oh no you don't!"

"I knew I liked the kid!"

"And you're gonna help the Doctor and me put up Christmas ornaments tomorrow-"

"Not a bad idea..."

"He's just suckering you for gifts."

"And it gets all lonely sometimes so you can color with me and help me with engine stuff and be my friend." Harry looked up at the both of them with huge eyes and a quivering lip. The Doctor caved first, looking away and muttering that he had better find a room as far away from his as possible and Harry and Jack whooped and high-fived.

The Doctor walked away, looking vaguely guilty and running through every moment Harry had spent on the TARDIS with him in his head and wondering if he had really isolated the boy so much.

Harry snorted as soon as he was out of hearing range, "The only time I ever color is when I'm designing an engine repair and I'll be teaching you how to work engines but you can be my friend if you want."

Jack looked at him in confusion, Harry just rolled his eyes, "If I play the 'Oh I'm so lonely and don't have a proper childhood' card he caves every time. I save it for times like these though. You're more interesting than sitting around without anything to do. Want some chocolate milk?"

Jack shook his head to clear it, "Yeah...but last time I was here the kitchen was missing and we ate takeout most of the time..."

Harry looked at him like he was mad, "Why didn't you just ask the TARDIS where it was? She would have told you."

With that he took off down the hall, one hand skimming against the wall, the other impatiently held out towards Jack.

The man stared after him for a brief second before catching up and grabbing his hand, allowing himself to be pulled along by an eight year old and wondering just what in the world he had gotten himself into.

* * *

**AN: Hey everybody, look I brought Jack back! There's still going to be tension between Jack and the Doctor but it just keeps getting broken by Harry, so it's not as noticeable in this chapter. I won't be including all the TARDIS adventures, Rose won't be coming back for a loooong time and I won't say another word about that, Harry should be going to Hogwarts in around four chapters...Have all of you watched Torchwood? There'll be a bit of interaction between those characters but nothing too huge.**

**Sorry about the wait! Hope you enjoyed the chapter :)**

**-Kat**


	6. Chapter 6

Harry and Jack sat on the counter of the TARDIS kitchen, listening to the sounds of banging and muffled yelling from below the control room and sipping chocolate milk.

"So, it's just been you and the Doctor lately?" Jack asked, wincing at what sounded like a heavy piece of equipment landing on someone's foot.

"Yep. I think it's been eight months but-"

"It's hard to keep track inside the TARDIS." Jack finished knowingly, looking around at the windowless walls.

Harry shot him a funny look, "Um, no. Half Timelord, timekeeping's really easy but the Doctor hasn't gotten to the part about if time outside the TARDIS counts or not."

Jack had decided earlier that day to be in shock about the Timelord child later, so he just looked at him quizzically, "Why wouldn't it count?"

"Cause the TARDIS is in a pocket of Gallifreyan Standard Time. That's how Timelords could go away for a month and come back after a month had passed instead of four years or an hour or something. So time outside of the TARDIS might not count. If it doesn't it's just been us for three and a half months."

They lapsed into silence again, but there was only so much silence Harry could stand.

"He missed you. A lot."

Jack leaned his head back until it hit the cabinet behind him with a dull thud, "Sure he did, kid. If he missed me he would have come back for me or at least explained things before just dumping me in an abandoned satellite filled with Dalek dust . I waited a hundred years for him to show up with his ridiculous grin saying that he meant to come back _a minute _after he left, not a century but he didn't do that. He just left me by myself and he did that on purpose. That was his choice. And now I'm venting to an eight year old and I'm sure somehow that's his fault too."

Harry rolled his eyes, "You and Rose are his best friends, Team TARDIS and all that, he never wanted to leave you. And it hurts you know, being near you."

Jack's head swung towards him in confusion, "What do you mean it hurts being around me?"

Harry shrugged and swung his legs a bit, taking a long sip of his chocolate milk, "You're wrong. You're a fixed point _everywhere_, especially in the TARDIS where you could go anywhere, any-when. And it _hurts _because you're not supposed to be like that, you're _wrong_. It's probably worse for him cause he's a full Timelord and he knew you before you were like this. That's why he's in the control room fixing things that aren't broken, he and the TARDIS are adjusting to you and trying not to show us how much you hurt them."

Jack simply stared at the boy for a moment, "Are you sure?"

Harry nodded and Jack jumped off the counter without another word and walked into the control room, half sliding, half climbing down the ladder and twisting through the wiring until he found the Doctor sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, glaring at nothing in particular, hands clenched tightly in fists against his legs. His head snapped up as Jack approached but before he could even attempt to scramble to his feet Jack had pulled him up by his arms, barely noticing his indignant squirming.

They stared at each other for a moment before Jack punched him square in the jaw, sending him flying backwards into the wall, shocked expression still fixed on his face. He only had a moment to steady himself before Jack pulled him roughly into his arms. "I would have understood you idiot. And I should have known. Sorry."

"Right." The Doctor said from his position squished into Jack's chest. "If you could just-"

Jack let him go and almost immediately grabbed his chin, "That's going to bruise."

The Doctor swatted him away in annoyance, "I know! Where's Harry? The last time I left him alone he convinced the TARDIS to fill the swimming pool with bubble bath, I was finding bubbles for weeks afterwards."

Jack rolled his eyes, "He's just sitting in the kitchen drinking chocolate milk, it was a pretty big glass so it should take him-"

There was a large jolt then a very familiar whirring noise. The Doctor and Jack stared at each other in horror, "-awhile."


	7. Chapter 7

The Doctor pushed past Jack and threw himself at the ladder, moving as fast as he possibly could given the shaking that accompanied the TARDIS entering the time vortex.

"Harry James Potter!" He roared, clinging tightly to the floor of the console as he reached the top of the ladder, "What in the name of-" Something large fell from the ceiling and he slid down several rungs to avoid it. By the time he made it up to the top the TARDIS was in almost steady flight and Harry was sprinting around the inexplicably lowered console, pulling levers, slamming buttons, and spinning gears. He was almost proud for a moment. Then he realized the TARDIS was doing most of the steering and almost everything Harry touched was throwing them off course. TARDIS driving lessons hadn't started yet for a reason and this was exactly that.

Harry looked back guiltily for a moment, quickly turning his head again when he saw the Doctor's near apocalyptic expression. "I'm sorry! She started going somewhere and you said you just wanted to float around a bit and I tried to stop her but the only thing I know how to do is the emergency break and I can't reach it!"

"What do you mean you can't reach it? The entire console is- Oh." And indeed, the entire console was shrunk down to Harry size. Except the emergency brake which had moved all the way to the top of the ceiling, well above both Doctor and Harry height.

"It's alright, I'm coming just step back, NO DON'T TOUCH THAT!" But it was too late. Harry had grabbed a hold of a lever and pulled down hard, not realizing it was the Really-Not-Good-Yellow-Lever. He kept meaning to figure out what it did, preferably on a day that Harry was tucked safely into his room or being watched by one of his old friends. All he knew was that it was Really-Not-Good and that he had never used it due to the Really-Not-Good feeling the TARDIS had sent rippling through him when he reached for it once. And Harry had just pulled it.

The entire console room began to shake even more violently than before and hunks of the shell protecting the wiring showered down on them.

Harry let out a terrified half scream and hunkered down as much as he could under the shrunken console. Within seconds, the Doctor was pulling him close into him and hammering madly on the controls with his free arm, trying feverishly to regain control of his ship.

Jack joined them a moment later, taking the other side of the console and acting as if he was helping. Acting as if what the Doctor was doing was helping. He had had many experiences with out of control crafts and this was far beyond his and his old friend's expertise. It was up to the TARDIS to get them out of this but Harry couldn't know that, the poor boy was terrified enough without the knowledge they were hurtling through time and space at impossible speeds and were liable to crash at any moment.

* * *

The Doctor looked from the quivering boy in his arms to the ship that he had always stood at the helm of and made a decision.

"Jack." The former Time Agent made eye contact for a moment, knowing already what was going to be said but continuing his work anyway. "Jack stop. The TARDIS obviously wants to handle this herself, we're going to my room and we're staying there until she stabalizes us. The rooms shouldn't be as mad as this, it's the best we've got."

Jack nodded and swung around the console, narrowly avoiding a sparking wire loosed from somewhere on the panal. Harry was grabbing onto the Doctor's neck tightly and whispering to himself in a quiet, beautiful language that Jack couldn't quite identify. The Doctor grabbed Jack's hand in a quick, well practised movement that seemed to surprise both of them before tugging them in the direction of the rooms.

"Just like old times, eh Doc?" He yelled over the humming machinery, crashes and sparks. "Running from explosions, dodging danger, the TARDIS in flight. Could make me believe there wasn't any time passed at all, that it was just a dream. Except Rosie's not he-"

He whirled around, his eyes an unholy blend of loss and rage, hand tighter around Jack's than it had ever been, stance almost battle ready when Harry's small hand made it's way to the Doctor's hair in an attempt to keep him closer through the noise and the floor shaking under foot. The look left his face as quickly as it had appeared and he was once again a weary man who was fiercely protective of his small charge.

"Don't. Just don't." He said, then they were moving again, towards a door that Jack had never dared open, never dared to even look at for too long lest the TARDIS misinterpret his aims and open it for him. Danger lay behind, the Doctor's room lay ahead.

**AN: Yep it's short, yep I'm a terrible person for keeping you waiting but the next chapter will be out tomorrow :) Goodnight from California!**

**-Kat**


	8. Chapter 8

Jack followed quickly behind the Doctor, shutting the door behind him and hesitating before turning around.

"It's a room, Jack." The Doctor said with an exasperated sigh, settling Harry into the bed and wrapping a blanket around his still too thin shoulders, "I know you've never been in here before, but it's a room, not some sort of magical forest."

Jack winced a bit, his friend was still clearly agitated from his Rose comment and the TARDIS spinning out of control. He turned around and quickly made an effort to re-hinge his jaw.

The Doctor shared a small grin with Harry, "Weeell, it's a pretty brilliant room thou." He said with a chuckle, almost sounding like his normal self for a moment.

Jack looked around the room with a huge, crooked grin, "It's certainly your room, Doc." He said, ignoring the annoyed glance shot towards him at the nickname. "You've got nice taste. My room's just full of-"

The Doctor hurriedly covered Harry's ears, "Thank you, but I don't want to know what you've been doing to my poor TARDIS's room and I'm very certain that Harry doesn't need to know either."

Jack rolled his eyes, "Come on, give me some credit, I'm pretty good at this uncle thing."

"You've been an uncle for fifteen minutes and in that time you've left a timelord child (one being raised by me, I might add) alone in a time and space machine, punched me in the face, and I'm sure you've somehow caused whatever's going on with the TARDIS. You are not at all good at the uncle thing. You are terrible at the uncle thing." The Doctor said flatly, leaning up against the headboard of the bed and pulling Harry against his chest, wincing a bit at a particularly large bump.

Jack shrugged, looking a bit guilty and Harry frowned up at the Doctor, "Hey! That was rude, you leave me alone in the TARDIS all the time and it wasn't his fault she went crazy!"

The Doctor pouted moodily and Harry managed to squeeze his arms out of the blanket and hold them out to Jack expectantly. The brown haired man smiled slowly and bounced onto the bed, laughing with his "nephew" at the Doctor's expression as Jack landed half on top of them. Finally the Doctor grinned as well and pulled the both of them closer, tucking his chin over Harry's head. They lay there in silence for a few minutes before Jack turned to the side a bit and noticed a picture on the bedside table, right next to the one of Harry. He reached out and grabbed it, chuckling in remembrance, "Hey, I remember this, Bajoon, right?"

Harry perked up, expecting a story and the Doctor smiled a bit, ready to comply, "Yeah, you had just started traveling with us and we wanted to take you somewhere good that you hadn't been yet-"

"So Rose says, why don't we take him to that neon planet?"

"And I say, oh yeah, brilliant, that sounds like a great time, we'll go to the color festival and stay for a few days, live like locals-"

"So we go to the closet, get all suited up in the brightest, most ridiculous colors you'll ever see, step out of the TARDIS-"

"And find this complete gray-scape, no colors anywhere and all the people are just staring at us with these unhinged jaws like we're the craziest thing they've ever seen-"

"And the Doc says, 'We must have come before the Color War" and starts walking along, calm as you please, nodding and smiling at all these gray people who don't even know what to make of him-"

"This was when I was all leather and ears, Harry, I was like that then. We manage to get about ten steps before they cut off our exit to the TARDIS and start running after us like mad men, trying to rip the color off of us-"

"So by this point, we're all naked-"

"Oi! You were naked, Rassillon knows how you got out of your clothes so quickly, Rose and I were perfectly clothed and we remained that way, thank you very much!"

"Don't listen to that, Harry, the Doctor got his shirt ripped off twenty strides in, Rose was the only one who remained completely modest, much to his disappointment-"

"Not in front of my son, Harkness, you are on probation as it is!"

Harry sat enraptured, laughing and snuggling up into the Doctor's chest, soaking up the warm glow that came with the Doctor calling him 'son'. He watched the two old friends tell the story of accidentally starting the Color War, fought with paintball guns and spray paint cans and their eventual starting of the annual color festival. Jack held the picture of he, Rose, and the Doctor loosely in his hand and Harry craned over to look at it, smiling at the always amusing picture of the Doctor with huge ears and a long nose, grinning for all he was worth and hugging Rose and Jack tightly against him. The story started to wind down and Harry blinked tiredly, yawning a bit and tucking himself even closer against the Doctor's chest. " 'm tired. Night, Dad, night Uncle Jack." He said quietly, not really realizing what he had said and drifting slowly off to sleep.

* * *

The Doctor gulped hard when he heard Harry's quiet murmur and froze a bit before gasping out a hoarse, "Good night, Harry" seconds after Jack. He looked over at the former time agent who was looking back at him fondly, "That's the first time he's ever called me that." He said, a silly grin starting to spread over his face.

Jack clapped him on the back and kissed both of them on the head, "You both deserve a family. I'm following his lead, good night Doctor, wake me up if something happens." He sunk further down into the bed and tossed an arm over Harry's small frame, falling asleep in seconds.

The Doctor lay awake for a while longer, feeling the TARDIS crash and bump and slide through the time vortex, just grinning at the deep blue, perpetually in motion walls. He had designed the room specifically to look like the slow movement of deep space sped up slightly, or the tides of the oceans of Earth. He shook his head and looked down at the sleeping boy in his arms, pressing another firm, lingering kiss to the top of his hair, "Fantastic." He murmured quietly, "Absolutely fantastic."


End file.
